Thanks Kairan. You're right - I have been using remote. I thought that this JBoss EAR deployer CallByValue option was a feature implemented above and beyond the specification - it is, isn't it? I considered switching to local, but that just leaves the potential problem for someone else to solve down the line if remote calls are ever needed later. I'm changing the code to work as call by ref - though this may involve changes in a number of places. I'm generally against using local for just this reason - your code may stop working if you ever change up your EJB allocation among JVMs/hosts! View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4157330#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...